Thieves indicted for using kids to steal(2)

This time, however, the bag's owner caught the girl and called the police.

The suspects in the cases, as well as a third, came from the same county in Hunan Province, said Zhou Feng, a press officer for the Qingpu District Prosecutor's Office.

Chinese law also makes allowances for pregnant women. In less serious theft cases, pregnant offenders usually will not have to serve time in prison, said Wu Ji, a lawyer for the Shanghai Hengye Law Firm.

One of the suspects in the fourth case, Qian Hong, committed 25 thefts with an accomplice from 2006 to 2012, usually when one of them was pregnant, prosecutors said. Qian has two sons and a daughter.

Qian got caught on February 11, when she and her accomplice, surnamed Yang, attempted to steal electric bicycles. Although she should have been detained for 15 days, Qian escaped without punishment because she was pregnant.

The pair had stolen a total of eight bicycles on four past occasions, always when one of them was pregnant. On March 4, she was caught again trying to steal an electric bicycle while holding her 10-month-old daughter.

Under China's Criminal Law, thieves can face longer prison sentences if they involve children in the crime.